


Confidence

by Captain_Revo



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Episode: s02e13-14 Such Sweet Sorrow Parts 1-2, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 08:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20386648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Revo/pseuds/Captain_Revo
Summary: Set during Such Sweet Sorrow, Tilly has an uncomfortable conversation with the Terran, Phillipa Georgiou.





	Confidence

Ensign Sylvia Tilly looked at the panel of wires and circuits, trying to work out which cluster to bypass next. Her friend, and Royal Highness of Xahea, Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po, was in the Spore Drive Lab with her dilithium incubator, trying to power the time crystal that would allow them to jump into the future, and keep the Sphere data out of the reaches of the A.I known as 'Control'. However for some reason it was not charging as quickly as it should, and while normally this would not be a huge problem, a commandeered armada of Section 31 ships was an hour away from warping in and blowing them into dust. The threat of impending doom was hard to ignore as she tried to focus on the task at hand.

She was in a small adjacent room to main engineering, that housed the junction control consoles that diverted power to the required systems around the ship. She was trying to shunt more power through the EPS grid to improve transfer flow, but it meant bypassing several systems. She was half way inside an open plasma conduit, elbows deep in rerouting four decks worth of power supply, when she sensed someone standing behind her.

"Hello, Killy," came the voice of the former Emperor, Phillipa Georgiou. 

She bumped her head into the shaft's ceiling.

"Owww," she cried, the pain throbbing through her head.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you?" she asked, her false sincerity was not hard to see through, nor was it meant to be. Tilly had noticed Georgiou took great joy in putting everyone on edge, and making sure no one felt comfortable around her. She was also extremely good at it. 

She untangled herself and removed her head and torso from the conduit, then slid herself back out into the open on her back. She looked up from her unflattering position on the floor at the Terran above her, dressed in black leather, with a mischievous look on her face. Georgiou was an intimidating force at the best of times, but she felt especially vulnerable in her current position. She had visions of her ramming her foot down upon her neck. She shook the image from her head. The leader of a vicious Empire that controlled much of the known galaxy on what the crew had dubbed 'the Mirror Universe' and had already caused quite a stir in this reality too. Tilly suspected she could probably kill her with one finger if she really wanted to. 

She clambered to her feet and straightened her uniform, before rubbing her aching head. Georgiou folded her arms.

"As a matter of fact... you are," replied Tilly, already feeling nervous that she was alone with this woman.

"Sorry, Killy," her apology had the same sincerity as the last comment.

Tilly shifted her weight from one side to the other, "I don't... I don't like it when you call me that."

"I know you don't like it, Killy." she replied, somewhat playfully, much like a cat would play with a mouse.

"Umm, Why...why are you down here? What do you want?"

She began to stroll around the room slowly, almost snake-like it its rhyme, "I'm trying to upgrade the phaser banks with a little Terran know-how, but it's very difficult when you're rerouting every system on this ship," she answered, clearly annoyed.

"If I don't, then... then we can't charge the crystal to travel into the future, so you're phasers wont be much use to anyone, so I need to get this done," she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

She talked too much when she was nervous, and the Terran definitely made her nervous. She couldn't decide if she would have preferred Control to have infected her instead of Leland. It seemed a horrible thing to want, but at least she could properly hate her without feeling guilty. She had always tried to live her life without hate, to be positive whenever possible, and to see the good in people. She felt that her sunny disposition was a strong trait of hers, but looking into the cold eyes of the former Emperor made her wish she could embrace her darker feelings.

She smiled and drew nearer, "I do out rank you, you know, ensign. Have a little respect for your senior officers."

"You don't even come from this universe. You don't even outrank this... this flux coupler," she said picking up the tool and pointing it towards her. She regretted it immediately. _'Stop it. Do you know who you're talking to?'_

Georgiou, instead of being angry, was impressed at her courage, "Are you sure you're not my Killy? Only she had the backbone to speak to me in such a way," the words slithering out of her mouth.

She had a point. Was it the impending doom? The whack to the head? Or had she finally lost her mind?

"Umm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean. I.. please don't kill me. I've had a lot of energy drinks today, too much sugar, you know," she said, her voice growing higher in pitch.

She giggled wickedly at the thought, "Relax, I don't kill competent people, or the ones I like. I only kill those who are a threat to me, and in this entire miserable universe, you are somewhere near the bottom of the scale."

Tilly let out a heavy sigh.

"You don't like me much, do you?" asked Georgiou, drawing ever nearer.

"It's not that I don't...umm, like you, it's just, umm, I'm maybe, slightly, kind of terrified of you," she replied quietly.

She raised an eyebrow, "I never would have guessed, you hide it so well."

"Gee, thanks," she said a split second before realising she was being sarcastic. 

"Speaking of hiding, "Georgiou continued, "where is the royal brat? Whatever her name is, blah, blah, blah Po."

"It's Me Hani Ika Hali-"

Georgiou raised her finger up to Tilly's lips, "I don't care what her name is."

Tilly nodded, apologetically, "She's in the Spore Drive lab. Look, I... really need to get back to work. I'll be finished shortly. I promise."

"Then by all means don't let me keep you, my dear," she replied. Her words ran down Tilly's back like ice. 

Tilly had hoped and expected her to leave, but instead she just stood there watching. She took a deep breath and crawled back into the conduit and begun rummaging around the wires again, trying to once again distract herself with the work. Despite what her appearance might suggest, she actually worked very well under pressure. Her ability to size up and deal with a problem under the pump was often described as her best feature by her instructors at the academy. It was one of the reasons she was selected for the command training program as it was felt she was a good decision maker in a crisis. You just didn't want to have a conversation with her while she was doing it though. _'Okay, Tilly. You got this. Just do the job and ignore the terrifying woman and murderous AI.'_

"Do you believe this plan of theirs will work?" the Terran asked out loud.

"Please leave me alone," she whispered, under her breath so the Terran could not hear. "I have full confidence in the Captain," came the louder but muffled reply from inside the conduit.

Georgiou walked towards the hole in the wall where Tilly's legs were protruding from, and bent down, "That isn't what I asked you."

There was a long pause, "I think we have a good eighty or ninety percent chance of.... not dying." 

"Not very encouraging." she said, rising back to her full height.

"Well at least you're not risking your neck coming along. You're not coming to the future so no need to worry, right!" There was silence. Tilly slide back out and poked her head out of the hole. "You're not coming with us, are you?"

"There is nothing for me here. Your universe is so boring. I thought maybe Section 31 could offer me the pleasures I desired but it seems even that organisation isn't prepared to do what is necessary," she said ruefully. '_If there even is a Section 31 after today,'_ she thought to herself, before adding, "I might as well explore the future and hope there are better opportunities there." 

"Going to the future sounds exciting. I wonder if the Federation still exists?"

She lent against the wall, and let out a sound of disgust, "If I'm lucky it will have crumbled into the dust. Humanities base instincts are too powerful to suppress. All this co-operation is unnatural, especially with... aliens.", she said, spitting the word 'alien' from her mouth. It disgusted her to see so many of them crawling around the ship. 

"I think co-operation is pretty cool, if you ask me," came a third voice from the doorway.

Tilly was relived to hear the voice of Commander Jett Reno, as she plugged a duotronic circuit into place.

"Do you now?" she hissed.

"History has taught us that embracing our differences promotes peace and prosperity. I prefer that to war and violence. But I'm just crazy like that," came the deadpan response of the engineer.

Georgiou slowly walked towards the Commander, "War promotes growth and technological advancement. Humanities greatest advancements have come under war. Even your... our precious Federation was born from the ashes of the Romulan War."

Reno simply blinked seemingly unimpressed with her opinion, before responding, "You know what also promotes technological advancement? Exploration. You know what makes exploration easier? Co-operation. I would have thought this ship would have proved it to you."

Georgiou was disappointed in hearing yet another human be so indoctrinated into the concept of unity and tolerance. Although she had to admit what had her lifetime of war and violence gotten her? Tilly was right, in this universe everyone outranks her. Her title of captain was a facade based on another woman's life. But if enough people believe the lie then perception becomes reality. She walked a dangerous tightrope in this reality and the fall if she stumbled would not be pleasant. 

"I had assumed you were a pragmatist," Georgiou replied.

"Nah, I'm an optimist. It's my ever present smile and winning personality that fools people into thinking otherwise," she retorted, drily.

"Well if that is how you feel then I look forward to working much more closely with you," she said, gently licking her lips.

Reno's expression remained unchanged. "Let me tell you, if you're trying to flirt with me, sister, then it's definitely working, but play times over and we there's work to do, so why don't you run along and go do some spy stuff, while we make sure everyone doesn't die."

Georgiou smiled and walked out patting the commander on her shoulder. The door slide open and she entered main engineering before talking to the Chief Engineer. 

"Hey, Kid, how's that rewiring job coming along?" she asked, putting her tool kit on the floor.

"Almost done, Commander," came the reply from from inside the wall.

"Sweet." She turned to look at Georgiou through the transparent aluminium panels panel. "What's her deal?"

"Excuse me?" 

"She ain't like no captain I ever saw."

"Oh..., umm, she was captured by Klingons for several months, and the war changed her perspective, you know?" she replied nervously. 

"Uh huh, sure, kid, whatever you say," she replied, totally unconvinced by the answer. She'd have to investigate and find out for herself. She loved a good mystery and Gerogiou was the proverbial riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, and she intended to find the answer.

Georgiou's real identity was still being kept a secret from the crew, with only Saru, Burnham, Cornwell, Sarek, Tyler, and herself knowing the truth. While Georgiou typically and infuriatingly made a deliberately poor effort to hide it, the risk of people finding out about the Mirror Universe was too great. If people knew there was other realities with near identically versions of themselves or people they know, and could be easily reached with the Spore Drive, it could cause wide spread interest, with unpredictable results. Better to keep that information to a need to know basis. 

Tilly finished up, untangled her hair from the wires and removed herself from the hole in the wall. She stood up, brushed herself down and went over to the console. The power grid had been improved by fourteen percent. She was hoping for fifteen, but it would have to do.

Reno was tapping away on the console next to her, trying to adjust the shield matrix. They were probably going to have to hang in the fire-fight a long time and they could use every bit of stability out of the shields that they could get. Tilly looked on at her with admiration and respect. Reno was everything she hoped to be. Smart, strong and unflappable. 

"Umm, Commander, can I ask you a question." Reno nodded at the request. "How are you so... so confident. Nothing seems to bother you."

"Geez, kid," she scoffed, "just the way I am, I guess. Plus, getting stuck on an asteroid for ten months hardens a gal."

She played with her hair slightly. "I wish I was more confident. You can stand up to Georgiou. I was a nervous wreck just being in the same room as her." She could still see Georgiou on the other side of the transparent door in engineering and it sent a shiver down her spine. "Make that the same deck as her."

Reno rubbed the back of her neck, "You're young, it comes with experience. But you are not lacking confidence. I've seen you in action. I've seen you do incredible stuff in the most difficult circumstances. You solve problems, you offer your ideas, you sit in meetings with captains and admirals. You're not lacking in confidence, you just think you are."

She hadn't thought of it like that, but she remained unconvinced, "But, I am awkward, and I do talk too much."

"Oh, Christ, yes," she said laughing, causing Tilly to laugh too, "but that's you, and I'd rather hang around you than Captain Black Ops."

"I don't want to be me. I want to be more like you."

"Then if you're like me, who's going to be like you?"

She pondered her response before saying, "I just worry that everyone looks down on me," she said hanging her head.

"Look, everyone admires you, kid, even Crouching Targ over there," nodding her head in the direction of Georgiou. "Don't ever change who you are to suit others. We all bring something different to the table, and you have an energy about you that relaxes people. Things will get easier with age, I promise."

"I hope so."

"Besides is you were like me, we'd have to fight to the death until only one was left standing."

Tilly chuckled, "It's just... you always seem so cool under pressure."

"We're attempting to travel a thousand years into the future, to stop a murderous A.I who has infected a human host, from gaining alien data allowing it to wipe out all life in the galaxy. You don't think I'm freaking out when the lights are off? We're all feeling the pressure, kid. I've had like three bowel movements just this morning. Most people would have tapped out by now, but you're still here. You're doing your job, and you're doing it well. That's all you can ask of yourself."

A wave of positivity swept over her, "I guess... you're right. Thanks, Commander."

"Call me Jett. Fixing warp cores and troubled ensigns is my job." she replied, patting the young woman on the shoulder.

"This is Po to Tilly, please respond." came a voice over the internal ship communication system. 

"Go ahead, Po," Tilly respond, happy to hear her friends voice again.

"The crystal is charging much faster now. Whatever you did, it worked. You're amazing," her voice filled with love and respect.

_'I am aren't I.' _she thought to herself with a smile on her lips.


End file.
